The generation of energy is a substantial concern to governments, individuals and research bodies around the world because of the difficulty in securing sufficient fuels to meet rising energy demand and the many environmental hazards associated with the generation of power and the acquisition of fuel stocks. One need only consider the Middle East or the tailpipe of an automobile to begin to appreciate the problems involved with the current approach to energy generation.
Many have attempted to develop acceptable alternatives to fossil or nuclear fuels, with limited success. Solar, wave and wind energy systems, for example, provide mechanisms by which electrical energy can be generated without the use of fossil fuels, but these techniques suffer both from being subject to the variability of the weather and economically marginal efficiencies as a replacement to fossil fuels. Similarly, techniques for making fuel from renewable biological sources, such as ethanol from corn or sugar cane, have been developed, but present difficulties of their own, including the diversion of agricultural land from food production and relatively limited energy production. Fusion, of course, is yet another energy generation technique that holds great promise, but that promise is far in the future and is unlikely to be realized in a practical way for many decades, if ever.
What would be ideal, and is needed, is an energy generation technology employing an abundant input, providing potentially significant energy output, avoiding environmental hazards and which is readily deployable.